It’s still being debated. But people who are not clinging to “Humans are superior” can see affection, sympathy, and empathy among mammals, birds, and cetaceans. It never got into the scientific literature, but my first cat used to lead young strays with encouraging chirps and let them eat his food.
In an article ‘way back in 1995, Natalie Angier wrote about it in the New York Times: “Scientists Mull Role of Empathy in Man and Beast.”
Dr. Frans de Waal, a primatologist at Emory University in Atlanta and author of a forthcoming book by Harvard University Press on animal morality tentatively titled, “Civil Like an Animal,” has gathered what he calls, “stories of remarkable instances of empathy.” …
Dr. de Waal said his observations indicate concordance between a species’ capacity for self-recognition in a mirror and its likelihood of displaying compassionate, empathic behavior toward its fellows. Monkeys do not recognize themselves in a mirror, and they would never put an arm around the shoulder of a friend hurt in a fight, he said. Chimpanzees have been shown to do just that, and they also demonstrate signs of self-recognition.
Sunday, 4 January 2009 at 06:00
great article….! my cat is the same .